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polar bear marathon

And so back to town to spend my last 10 days with Heidi. Plenty to do to keep busy. Most of the bears are heading out onto the ice which has, fortunately formed in good time this year – a late freeze is very bad for the bears as they need to be able to go out onto the ice to feed. From the time the bears come in off the ice when it thaws in the spring until it re-freezes they don’t feed – ok, so the odd paw full of berries or a bit of kelp but not a proper meal like a good old fat seal.

Again, i’ve added the images as a gallery so click on them to see a larger version.

The town of Churchill

Strange signs they have here 😉

Arriving at Blue Sky to go dog sledding

Gerald and Jenafor gave us food to feed the birds – Gray Jays

The Gray Jays, eating right out of our hand 🙂

Gerald getting the dog sled ready, the dogs were very excited – it was as if they were saying “pick me!”

Mmmm, yum, moose stew!

The very first Polar Bear Marathon sets out at first light from town.

Heidi and i helped out – all the runners had to have a polar bear guard – our job was not only to hand out the water (the runners couldn’t carry it because it would freeze) but to keep our eyes peeled for bears.

A polar bear was spotted near to here and there were paw prints on the side of the road.

One of the German runners – looking a wee bit cold!

On the way back into town the conditions had taken a turn for the worst with snow and wind. Still, the runners were lucky it was only -12’C it could have been SO much worse!

The two guys we were assisting, on the left from Canada and on the right from California, USA and in the middle Dave, who lives in Churchill and was helping Heidi and i.

I left Churchill on the train, it was -42’C with the windchill and only going to get colder! For this journey i’d booked a cabin for one and was very happy that i had. I lay in my bed as the train trundled across the snow-covered tundra – the moon so bright i could see right into the distance. Magic! What a fantastic time i’d had, it far surpassed all my expectations, so many amazing memories and so many lovely people. My biggest thanks of all going to Heidi for constantly inviting me until i gave in – i’m so glad that i did 🙂